Cancer Bats have been touring their ferocious brand of hardcore punk across the world since last year’s release of Dead Set on Living. They have steadily grown a large and loyal fan base as a result of their monstrous live shows and tireless touring, as well as a devastating new set of songs coming out from their most recent release. Cancer Bats recently announced the impending arrival of a deluxe re-issue of the critically acclaimed record, slated for a February 12th release, and have also released a new video for the song “Bricks and Mortar” as 2012 was drawing to a close. ThisConnect.ca recently sat down with drummer Mike Peters in between tours to chat about the upcoming re-issue, touring, and the mysterious alter ego that is Bat Sabbath.

So you guys just finished playing a bunch of shows across Europe with Enter Shikari. How was it playing with those guys?

It was great, they’re definitely a different band from us and they definitely have a different fan base, which is great for us. It’s good to play in front of new people, but at the same time it can be tough because sometimes those new people don’t give a fuck about your band. It’s rewarding when they do, though. Then you see a bunch of kids who have never heard of you getting into your band, which is exciting.

You guys are heading to Australia after touring the Canadian East Coast, are you excited to play somewhere a little warmer after being in the cold out East?

Yeah, it’ll be a welcome change, it was cold in Europe too; we haven’t been able to get away from the snow yet.

Your latest album Dead Set On Living has been out for a while now, it dropped last April. How has the reception been thus far?

It’s been great. It’s been – I think – one of the best for the records. Everyone’s been excited; all our old fans have come back and been excited about the record and a lot of new people have been getting into it as well.

So Cancer Bats are releasing a re-issue of Dead Set On Living in February; what can we look forward to that’s new on this edition?

Yeah, February 12th. There are four songs that were recorded when we were recording Dead Set On Living which are now being released with it. The songs are awesome; I’m really excited to have those finally out so we can start playing them live and stuff like that. Also, there’s a five song EP bundled in with it that is five Black Sabbath songs.

Yeah, I’ve heard the Cancer Bats alter ego is Bat Sabbath. How did that end up happening?

Yeah, we did a festival called Sonisphere in the summer of 2010. Right before we were getting ready to start working on Dead Set On Living. It was a festival over in Europe, and we got asked by the festival to do an extra set at the end of the night. I think Slipknot was the headliner, so it was kind of post-Slipknot for all the people there camping. So we decided to do Black Sabbath songs, and it was just written in the program “Bat Sabbath”, but it didn’t explain who it was, or what it was, or anything. So we ended up doing it, and it went over really well, and then people were excited about it and the word spread and we ended up doing ten shows in Ontario and Quebec, and then we did a couple shows throughout Europe after that. When we started touring for Dead Set On Living there were a couple people who were like ‘well you could do a second show as Bat Sabbath’ and we were like, ‘yeah okay, sure why not?’ So we’ve ended up doing maybe twenty shows as Bat Sabbath. So recording was the only natural next step.

So, on Dead Set On Living you worked with producers Eric Ratz and Kenny Luong. What is it like working with these guys?

It’s great; they’ve worked on every Cancer Bats record. We tour so much and we have this amazing relationship with them where we pretty much don’t see each other for two full years, and then we get to a point where we’re 90% done the record. Then we call them and we’re like ‘hey would you want to come and start helping us make demos and really fine tune the album?’ And then we get to hang out with them for two months straight, so it’s like we hang out almost every day with them. They’re down at the studio for at least a couple hours helping us and we go over to their studio as well. We have this amazing relationship, and they’re like brothers to us almost now, like an extension of the band.

And it’s cool because we’ve gotten to the point now where we can trust each other, and they can tell us like ‘you know what Mike, that drum fill sucked’ and I can say ‘yeah you’re probably right’. And I can say ‘well man I really like this’ and they’ll say ‘well you may like this, but it makes the song sound really weird.’ And it’s like ‘oh okay, well I’ve got to figure out something different.’

So you guys have been touring pretty hard for a while now, where is your favourite place to tour?

Ohh, favourite place to tour…Oh geez, there’s so many great places. I mean we just came back from Europe, we played Prague, which is always an amazing time. Barcelona is always an amazing city to play. But then at the same time we go to Vancouver or Halifax. You know so much of touring, at least for us, the good time is obviously the show but also the friends we have in the area, if we know that there’s a really good coffee spot or really good food somewhere. It’s hard to pinpoint right now our favourite place to tour. But every tour there’s always somewhere amazing, usually those places are 1 in 10 or 1 in 5 but it’s still great.

Over the last couple years you guys have toured with and helped out the band A Sight For Sewn Eyes. What are your thoughts on up and coming bands like these guys?

Well A Sight For Sewn Eyes, those guys are a great band. They’re all really talented musicians. They’re amazing dudes, really fun to tour with, really easy-going and hardworking. You know, we were taken under wing by bands, especially Alexisonfire and Billy Talent when we were starting out, and they were like ‘hey this is how you do it’, ‘hey come on tour with us here, come on tour with us there’ .

So we kind of understand that that’s a very important part of being in a band – is giving back and trying to help and guide the younger bands, because if they don’t have someone to be like ‘hey this is how you do it’ or ‘come on, play in front of our fans now, because your band’s awesome and we want you guys to do well.’ If no one did that for us then we wouldn’t be where we are right now, so it’s very important.

So lastly, anything you’d like to share with any fans out there who will be reading the interview?

Go out and get the re-issue if you can, go pick it up, the new songs are awesome and the Black Sabbath songs are obviously not as good as the original, but still they’re pretty good, they’re pretty tight. We’re really excited to come out to the East Coast again and get a bit more touring in Canada. It’s always fun to be at home!

My wife and that i have already been now delighted that Albert could carry out his reports due to the strategies he had by your web content. It really is once in a while perplexing to only generally be giving away measures which some individuals might …

This can be marvelous. Another looked at the offer matter so we are astounded. We are precisely attracted to this type of options. Human beings appreciate your prefered tip, and benefits your precious time with this. Please keep add relevant content. T…

My spouse and that i happen to be now delighted that Albert could execute his research due to the tips he had by way of your online page. It is actually every now and then perplexing to simply always be freely giving ways which some individuals could h…

I guess it’s safe to say that many New Yorkers hated the “art” painted all over the trains. However I question what number of residents miss the old graffiti, and so I tallyed the New Yorkers inside the commentary section. We find that, not includin…

I just like the valuable info you supply for your articles. I’ll bookmark your blog and test once more right here frequently. I’m quite sure I’ll be informed a lot of new stuff right right here! Good luck for the following!…

In between me and my husband we’ve owned far more MP3 players through the years than I can count, like Sansas, iRivers, iPods (common & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few a long time I’ve settled down to one line of gamers….

Between me and my husband we’ve owned additional MP3 players over the years than I can count, together with Sansas, iRivers, iPods (traditional & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few decades I’ve settled down to one line of gamers….

My spouse and i have been now delighted that Albert could execute his scientific tests due to the suggestions he had via your web content. It can be every so often perplexing to simply normally be freely giving methods which lots of people could have b…

After looking over a number of the blog articles on your web site, I truly appreciate your technique of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back in the near future. Please check out my website too and tell me your…

We were very pleased to locate this great site.I would like to thanks to this unique tremendous post!! Unquestionably delighting each and every word of it and i also book marked to look at latest articles you put up….

Good day very nice web site!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also…I am satisfied to seek out numerous useful information here within the put up, we need work out more strategies in this regard, thanks f…

This is my first time i visit right here. I found so many entertaining stuff within your weblog, especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your posts, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment right here! Keep up the excellen…

I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than…

A lot of thanks for your whole labor on this website. Debby enjoys doing investigation and it’s obvious why. Most of us learn all relating to the lively mode you convey worthwhile items by means of this website and increase participation from other pe…

I really wanted to compose a note in order to express gratitude to you for those stunning instructions you are writing on this site. My rather long internet look up has finally been honored with beneficial facts to write about with my family and friend…

I am extremely inspired along with your writing talents and also with the structure in your weblog. Is that this a paid topic or did you modify it yourself? Either way stay up the nice high quality writing, it is rare to see a great blog like this one …

Observed your article incredibly fascinating certainly. I really appreciated examining it and you simply make very some very good details. I will bookmark this website with the future! Relly great content….

Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently rapidly….

You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be actually something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and extremely broad for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I will try to get th…

I do agree with all of the ideas you have presented in your post. They are really convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are very short for novices. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post….

One other issue is that if you are in a problem where you would not have a cosigner then you may actually want to try to make use of all of your financing options. You can find many awards and other scholarships that will present you with money to help…

Hi, your story here surely got me interested up to the last sentence, so I just had to comment on it. I have been searching for that topic, finally found your column! First informative story, but you should check some articles for some spam. Just a hin…

I really wanted to compose a note in order to express gratitude to you for those stunning instructions you are writing on this site. My rather long internet look up has finally been honored with beneficial facts to write about with my family and friend…

It’s perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I want to suggest you few interesting things or tips. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read more …

very nice post, i certainly love this website, keep on it I was very pleased to find this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff …

Hmm it appears like your blog ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any…

Hi! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!…

Hey There. I found your weblog employing msn. This is a quite properly written article. I will probably be sure to bookmark it and return to read a lot more of your valuable information. Thanks for the post. I will definitely return….

Howdy! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!…

I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility problems? A small number of my blog visitors have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you…

Hi, your story here surely got me interested up to the last sentence, so I just had to comment on it. I have been searching for that topic, finally found your column! First informative story, but you should check some articles for some spam. Just a hin…

[...]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated information, nevertheless actually really worth taking a appear, whoa did one particular understand about Mid East has got much more problerms as well [...]…

[...]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated information, nevertheless genuinely really worth taking a look, whoa did 1 find out about Mid East has got far more problerms as well [...]…

You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be actually something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and extremely broad for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I will try to get th…

Hello $author, your article on this site is really awsome. Its unblievable material that you posted here. So one more time, $author, I can not wait to get more of this. Keep up $author, that truely is really a excellent post….

Good website! I truly love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I’m wondering how I could be notified when a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your RSS feed which must do the trick! Have a great day!…

I have got one idea for your webpage. It appears like there are a number of cascading stylesheet troubles when launching a selection of webpages within google chrome as well as opera. It is working alright in internet explorer. Possibly you can double …

My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find the majority of your post’s to be just what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content available for you? I wouldn’t mind producing a post or elaborating on many of the subject…

This is my first time i visit right here. I found so many entertaining stuff within your weblog, especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your posts, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment right here! Keep up the excellen…

[...]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated information, nevertheless really worth taking a search, whoa did one particular study about Mid East has got far more problerms also [...]…

IT Support for small businesses and home users within London and the M25. At Symstar our aim is to provide you with an improved IT Support Service at affordable rates. We are your one-stop shop for all your IT Support software and hardware needs….

Kabbalistic (kabbalah) astrology in a serious way, not based on foreign sources like Vedic astrology, Roman astrology, Arabian astrology, Greek or Babylonian astrology or any other ancient astrology, but has its sources in the Bible. We talk about how …

Thank you for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do some research on this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I\’m very glad to see such excellent information being share…

My spouse and that i are now delighted that Albert could perform his scientific studies due to the strategies he had through your web content. It can be from time to time perplexing to just generally be making a gift of actions which some individuals m…

Hi there! I could have sworn I’ve been to your blog before but after browsing through many of the articles I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely delighted I discovered it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently!…